A conscientious operator

Meeting challenges

Last year, Sun took on the role of president at Xinjiang Children's Hospital. "The children in Xinjiang need me, so I came here," he says.

Sun is not alone. A couple of executive level staff members from Beijing Children's Hospital came with him to help manage the hospital.

However, when the team arrived in February last year, they realized they would face many unexpected challenges.

As Sun's role has changed, apart from surgery he also has to deal with running the hospital and its plans for development as well as the purchase of equipment and the facility's financial management.

Sun says it's not enough to just have a pediatric department at a children's hospital, the other departments such as imaging, clinical lab and ultrasonography lab are also needed.

Within the last two years, the hospital has established the otolaryngology and ophthalmology departments, and Sun plans to build a cardiothoracic surgery and a nutrition department next.

Sun has also overseen the construction of a new ward building, which is anticipated to come into use next year with 360 more beds, taking the hospital's total to 800.

With more than 1.66 million square kilometers, Xinjiang covers about one-sixth of China's territory. It's a long journey for some patients to get to Urumqi.

When Sun worked in Beijing, patients with rare diseases came to him, so it was usual that they would wait for months for an operation.

"When I came to Xinjiang, I realized how important it is that the patients can get treated locally," Sun says. "Some illnesses that parents assume are incurable actually just require a simple surgery."

Sun's other major projects include visiting counties across Xinjiang to train local doctors and building a network, so that when county level doctors need help, they know who to turn to for help, and when the case is too complicated, Sun's team members can seek assistance from their peers in Beijing.

Sun knows there is still a long way to go for him to help elevate the level of pediatric medical treatment in Xinjiang. "Our aim is to not only set up the new ward and conduct surgeries, but also to train local doctors and build a local team so that more children can get treated in Xinjiang," Sun says.